But after fighting at Wednesday night’s “UFC Fight Night 19: Diaz vs. Guillard” to a split-decision result for the second time in two UFC appearances, Condit knows there’s still work to be done before he can replicate his WEC success in the sport’s biggest promotion.

“I’m glad that I won, but I was disappointed that it was so close,” Condit told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) at the event’s post-fight press conference. “But a win is a win. I obviously have some things to work on, and I will definitely be working diligently at the gym.”

Condit earned a split-decision win over UFC newcomer and late replacement Jake Ellenberger (21-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on the main card of Wednesday’s Spike TV-broadcast event. But as the close score would seemingly indicate, the win didn’t come easy.

In fact, it almost didn’t come at all.

“I was pretty rocked,” Condit admitted. “I was probably in a heap of trouble, but I kind of just pulled through. I was there mentally, but for a second my vision in my left eye was a little bit fuzzy.”

Condit found himself on the bottom on several occasions in the opening five minutes, absorbing several heavy right hands while dropping a round that could have easily been scored 10-8 for Ellenberger. Somehow, the “Natural Born Killer” survived the onslaught.

“He hit me with a good shot,” Condit said. “I think I threw a kick, and he caught me with a right hand. He’s a pretty powerful dude, pretty explosive.

“I just kind of persevered, and that’s been something that’s helped me through a lot of fights in my career is just being tough and being able to weather storms. I was in trouble in the first round, but I didn’t want to lose this fight. Unless I was knocked out or finished, I wasn’t going to quit.”

Condit turned the tide in the second frame, moving beyond simply surviving to actually controlling the action. The former WEC champ said a change in strategy was the key to success as time wore on.

“I knew that he was an explosive guy and that he had a hard right hand,” Condit said. “I probably made some tactical errors, going out there throwing kicks knowing that he knew I was going to throw kicks, but I was able to weather his storm and pull through.”

After securing the second round, Condit needed to earn the final frame to claim the victory. It was a similar position to Condit’s April split-decision loss to Martin Kampmann, but the 25-year-old said his third-round effort was due in part to the lessons learned against “Hitman.”

“I feel like the difference between this fight and my fight against Kampmann was I pulled it out in the third,” Condit said. “I knew I needed that third round, and I made sure that I won that round. I was trying to finish the whole time in different positions, but I knew that I needed that round. I wasn’t going to let him take that fight from me.”

Condit said he hopes to fight again before the end of the year, though the UFC will obviously determine if that happens as the schedule continues to fill out. But after fighting to just the second and third decisions of his 28 career contests in his first two UFC appearances, Condit knows he’s got to step up his game in his next trip to the octagon.

“I was pretty sure that I got the decision, but had it gone the same way the Kampmann one did, I would have been pretty disappointed,” Condit said. “Again, I had a fight that I didn’t finish and that went to a judges decision. Hopefully I can fix some things in my game and finish my next opponent so we won’t have to worry about it.”